Why Is The Federal Reserve Talking So Much About The Costs of The Investment Banking Backstop?

Although New York Federal Reserve Bank President Timothy Geithner said today that he supports the Fed's moves to rescue Bear Stearns from bankruptcy, he went out of his way to emphasize that this was a response to an acute risk to the financial system.

"It was the only feasible option available to avert default," he said. "We were not confident that the damage could be maintained by other means."

The Federal reserve has been on something of a yakking rampage lately.